UFC Vegas 60 is officially in the books and it ended on a somewhat controversial note. In the main event, Cory Sandhagen defeated Song Yadong via doctor’s stoppage after the 4th round. However, there could be an argument made that the fight could have been stopped a round earlier.
Cory Sandhagen fought a masterful fight on the night. He seemed to take a page out of Tony Ferguson’s book. In his prime, Tony used to brutalize his opponents by landing vicious punches and elbows. Sandhagen somewhat replicated that against Song Yadong. Although he was focusing more on takedowns in the first round, he altered his gameplan from round 2 onwards.
The elbow that would end up winning Cory Sandhagen the fight.#UFCVegas60 pic.twitter.com/upelUihLt1
— MMA mania (@mmamania) September 18, 2022
He started integrating body kicks and elbows into his offence. Cory’s elbows were especially effective as they did some major damage in the fight. One of the elbows opened up a huge gash above Song’s left eye. But it kept getting worse as Sandhagen repeatedly kept following up on that with more and more elbows.
By the end of round 3, the 24-year-old was bleeding profusely and the eye almost seemed mangled. But the ref Herb Dean let the fight continue for one more round despite a warning from the doctor at the end of the third round. Herb’s judgement call did not pay off as Cory did even more harm to the wound in the fourth round. But this time Herb did not hesitate to call the fight.
Often times UFC referees are called out for either waving off the fight too early or too late. In this case, Herb gave Song the benefit of the doubt as the bout was really close and the Chinese fighter was landing some big punches. But Cory’s outstanding defence made it impossible for Yadong to make a comeback in the fight.
Fans have their say on the stoppage in Cory Sandhagen vs Song Yadong
At the end of the 4th round, the doctor inspected the wound once again and seemed worried. Cory Sandhagen was clearly taking over the charge of the fight and he was going to do more damage to Song Yadong. Hence, Herb Dean took the doctor’s hint and waved off the main event fight after the 4th round.
Following the fight, it seemed like the netizens were in agreement that the fight was stopped at a good time. Although some fans thought the ending was unfortunate as Song was in a good position, the majority thought the stoppage was fair. One fan even wrote that the fight should have been stopped a round earlier.
Fan reactions to the stoppage in the Cory Sandhagen vs Song Yadong fight
W Doctor
— Zoheb MMA (@ZohebMMA) September 18, 2022
i think he stopped it one round to late tbh
— ethan (@_ethannn) September 18, 2022
“I don’t like this at all”
— singlemaltdrinker (@markyrod1) September 18, 2022
*thank you doctor
Good call.
— Kevin D (@freekev22) September 18, 2022
The cut was too deep around the eye 👁
What are your thoughts on the fight? Do you think the decision to stop the fight was a fair one? Let us know in the comments down below.
